Severus Snape Was Not Black And White – He Was Complex

I hate when people are black and white about Severus. Yes he made bad choices when he was younger, yes he was abusive and absolutely wretched to Harry and others. But what people fail to see, or maybe they just brush it off, is that Severus had to be that way or else Voldemort would notice, Severus would be murdered, and then poof, gone is the spy. They would not have been able to win the war without him. There is also the fact that J.K. is a terrible world builder and plot writer. She stole most of what she wrote but not even getting into that, and, aside from that, she developed some characters an insane amount, others somewhat, and some not at all. Snape is one of those she went almost all out on but still left out a ton. Let me make this perfectly clear; that is not an excuse to abuse children.

We don’t know what his childhood was like. We don’t know much about his parents or what abuse was most likely there as it *was* sort of hinted at. Rowling doesn’t go much into what Voldemort did to his death eaters. He was the most accomplished legilimens in, well, basically ever. Which also probably means he was a natural legilimens like Queenie. Which also probably means he would know if Severus was even the tiniest bit nice to Harry, or Neville, or anyone else. He HAD to be horrible to them, and specifically kids of Order members. He wasn’t that bad to other kids, or even other Gryffindors. Notice that. He was the worst to kids of Order members.

Another thing that pisses me off is that people don’t talk about James Potter and HIS abusive behavior often enough. He was a complete asshole and a bully who tortured Severus in unimaginable ways. And no one but Lily ever tried to stop him. I’m glad that Harry hated him for a hot minute when he found out what his father had done. James Potter is the character I hate the most. Yes, even more than Umbridge. Even more than Voldemort. Granted, he’s one of the characters Rowling wrote the least about but hey. He has no depth. No redeeming qualities.

I am not at all excusing Severus’ behavior toward other students. But if people are going to go at him about that, then they should ALSO see everything else in the big, whole picture. I’m sick of people bashing him while not also acknowledging everything else, and all the GOOD he has done. Atonement my ass. In no way am I saying he was a good person, but he was an incredibly complex, deep, and complicated character. Very few people give him credit because in these politically correct days, people scream AbUsE! and don’t see past that. Does that, of all things, really define him? Really? After everything else he’s done? That is not an actual question I’m asking. It’s rhetorical.

Severus was not a nice man. He was not a “good” person. But he wasn’t a bad person, either. He was mixed up in a shit ton of, well, shit, and he did what he could to make it right. He played what I believe is the hardest role in all of this as the spy. That doesn’t excuse his behavior, as I have said before. I just wish people would acknowledge all of this.